Is Best Buy making the right changes?

I grew up in a computer lab.  I spent more time in middle school and high school computer labs than I did in a classroom.  The saddest part is I probably learned more.  I have always been in love with technology and recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in information systems from University of Maryland Baltimore County.

But when I was attending college I was looking for a  computer job to expand my knowledge.  So let’s get my disclaimer out front.  I once applied to work at Best Buy – the leading company in the retail of consumer electronics in the United States and Canada with $30.8 billion in revenue.  In 2004, Forbes named Best Buy the company of the year and one of the most generous corporations. A great place to work for a college kid, I thought.

So,  here’s how my application to Best Buy went.

I started off by doing a ridiculous online survey that asked me questions like:

Have I ever stolen?

Have I ever lied?

If you saw a fellow employee steal something would you report them?

I didn’t know  how I was supposed to answer those questions. Should I have said I never lied or stole anything in my life.  I took this as a test of telling the truth and admitted: I lied (who hasn’t?), I stole (who hasn’t take an office pen?), and I never ratted out a fellow employee. Probably not the answers they were looking for.

They never called or an emailed me saying that I didn’t get the job.  I got the hint. I wasn’t going to get the chance to join their 140,000 employee workforce.

So I started my own computer business – fixing computers on the side. I did it for a lot cheaper than what Best Buy’s Geek Squad charged.

OK, I admit, I had a slight smile when I read Best Buy will  close 50 stores. But is anyone  really surprised about Baltimore’s Best Buy store closing and all those others. You shouldn’t be. It’s expected.

With stores like Circuit City closing their doors and only having an online presence  it was inevitable that Best Buy would have to do something to adapt to customer shopping habits if they wanted to still be known as the store with “Thousands of possibilities.”

So let’s take a look into how they can thrive

They are opening 100 smaller mobile stores that will sell phones, tablet and other mobile devices.  So,  while they are cutting 50 stores, they really they are going to have more stores –  1,500 stores instead of 1,450 – albeit smaller.

Is this really the right solution?

It is good for them to focus on a niche, rather than focusing on items like music, movies, and video games that most find cheaper online You could see it coming with the CD and DVD selection shrinking in the main stores.  The main problem is that it is only a matter of time before people find all of their mobile needs online –  making these niche  retail stores obsolete.

So what is their real strategy? 

Best Buy also announced it would increase worker training by 40 percent and offer financial incentives to employees who meet “customer service and business goals.”

Good move.

From my personal experience, employee training at Best Buy has always been suspect.  I admit I never ask for help or talk to the people who work there unless I am trying to find where an item is I am looking for.  This is because I do my own research.  In fact, today I rarely shop at Best Buy unless I need something immediately like a cord because I can’t afford to wait for it to be shipped.

So this decision is on the right track.

Best Buy needs to make a strong effort to focus on customer service and give a reason for people to come to its stores.  This will mean being strict about who they hire and train.  If you would like a great example of this, just look at Apple’s retail stores.  Have you ever entered into one of their stores and not had someone say can I help you with something within the first minute of walking in the door? Try that at Best Buy and see what happens. Count the number of seconds, minutes or hours before someone approaches you and asks if you need help.

Baltimore Post-Examiner walked into the Columbia, Maryland store to see how long it would take to get help. After an hour we gave up and left.

Educate employees

Every employee at the Apple store is knowledgeable and ready to answer your most complicated questions whether it be about how the iCloud works to what printer is compatible with your computer.  If they do not know the answer to one of your questions they always bring over someone who does.  Best Buy can learn from this and make its stores just a welcoming and knowledgeable as Apple’s.

Stop selling CDs

This could be a bold move because it has always sold CDs and DVDs.   I must have bought at least 200 CDs from Best Buy, but that was  more than six years ago.  CDs are on the way out and so are DVDs. People frame CDs  now and download movies along with their music.  When Howie Day earlier this year played at the Baltimore Soundstage, he didn’t bring CDs to sell after the show. He explained. “No one buys CDs. They just download them.”

Best Buy would be wise to listen to Howie Day. On their online site they should promote mp3 downloads  similar to Amazon.  The same could happen to DVDs.

Start offering  more online deals

Everything that Best Buy sells today will in the near future be only sold online. This should come as no surprise, which Circuit City does now after it closed its retail stores.  So Best Buy needs to look at improving their online presence.  It is not too late.  It needs to start offering online deals that compete with other tech stores and give shoppers a reason to go online. Right now,  as CNBC pointed out in a special report on Best Buy,  customers use the Amazon app when they shop inside Best Buy and then purchase the product on Amazon when they find a cheaper price. Too bad, Best Buy didn’t create the app first. Imagine if they did?

Improve online presence (social networking)

Best Buy needs to get people talking about it online and in a good way.  If you  look for Best Buy store reviews online they will bash Best Buy for its prices, customer service and much more.  They need to start a strong social media presence that earns respect instead of  the steady flow of complaints found on numerous customer rating sites.

Phase out stores

Plain and simple: slowly  shut down more stores and build a larger online inventory.  Consumers are getting smarter about the way they shop and with the economy still in the tank, shoppers want to save the most money. Find ways to competitively take on Amazon with pricing. Match Amazon prices – give in-store exclusive rebates, provide six months of free Geek Squad services. (Best Buy currently does not match online retail store pricing. )

Best Buy can make it

Best Buy can thrive. It just depends how fast it adapts to change. If your a Best Boy employee or even a loyal customer, take this list to the nearest Best Buy store and give it to management.  A few changes can make a world of difference. And who knows – perhaps three years from now wouldn’t it be great to read about how Best Buy adapted to customers shopping habits and produced one of the greatest profitable online businesses in this nation?